Course:Http://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:ARST573/First Nations Archives

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First Nations Archives

First Nations Archives may refer to cultural institutions that contain records about First Nations or Aboriginal peoples. The term can also mean the body of recorded information created by a group or community of First Nations peoples.

History

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) and its impact on archives

The Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) calls for the creation of an Aboriginal documentation centre. It states that "a substantial portion of the history of Aboriginal people resides in government files, church storerooms, and archives across Canada - the rest is safeguarded in the memories of Aboriginal people, many of whom are elders now. Records and recollections of history, both the good and the bad, should be collected, preserved and made more accessible to all Canadians, before it is too late. We see an Aboriginal-controlled documentation centre as the best way to do so."
RCAP also states that Aboriginals have made justifiable demands for:

• repatriation of artifacts of great importance
• prevention of appropriation (or theft) of songs, stories, and other intellectual property by non-Aboriginal people

The Commission urges museums and other cultural institutions to adopt ethical guidelines in the collection, display, and interpretation of artifacts related to Aboriginal cultures. It further encourages them to provide Aboriginal peoples with better access to their cultural heritage. The challenges for archivists lie in how to balance their responsibility to the records with their responsibility to First Nations peoples.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

-content to be added later

Challenges

Aboriginal Archives

Aboriginal archives face numerous challenges. The most important ones include: lack of funding, lack of archival training, and lack of clear collections policy.

Archives with holdings concerning Aboriginal peoples

The issue of privacy may come up for archivists who deal with Aboriginal holdings.
Many archives want to collaborate with First Nations groups. Some have been successful, however many are regarded with suspicion by First Nations.

Aboriginal Archives and Archival Science

Discussion of a diplomatic analysis of oral records will draw on Shauna McRaynor's article.

Archives and Anthropology

Archives that hold materials about First Nations are beginning to think about their holdings in a new way. In the past, these items were seen as museum artifacts that were representative of a culture that no longer existed. Now archives and museums recognize that First Nations cultures are not relics from past eras, but that First Nations cultures are contemporary. Archivist can learn from anthropological approaches to knowledge about First Nations, and especially the representation of this knowledge.

Intellectual and Cultural Property

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has defined Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCE)as cultural materials created by a community, which demonstrate that "community's cultural and social identity" and form part of a "community's heritage.... handed down from one generation to another." According to this definition, First Nations' TCE could include any records or materials that represent their cultural heritage, or any knowledge that has been developed and passed down among First Nations. According to Kay Mathiesen, First Nations should be given the right to control access to their TCE, in spite of the fact that this goes against the ACA Code of Ethics, which states that archivists should "encourage and promote the greatest possible use of records in their care." Matheisen argues that the concept of group privacy provides an ethical justification for allowing Aboriginal groups to control who can access records about them. The idea of cultural property, which is "the material manifestations that relate to a civilization, especially that of a particular country at a particular period" is another concept which gives First Nations a moral right to restrict access to their records.

Oral histories

Oral history is recorded information about the past experiences of people who were affected by or who participated in the events being researched. It generally takes the form of an interview between the researcher (interviewer) and interviewee. Oral histories are used to fill in gaps in the written record.